I Lived, Grinch! [open post]

[summerdude]

The first thing Magnus does -- with Alex's help -- after fully healing is board up the hole in the side of the greenhouse where the cheetah ran through. The second thing, once he learns the full scope of Dark (it's different at camp; he'd already taken out a ton of camp-appropriate food for when Galahad and Laertes couldn't make it out there, and so he and Alex have been fine on the eating front) is go to the greenhouse again to figure out what plants in there yield edible produce. (Also, he tries to scrub his blood off the table. It... partially works?)

Partly it's that he's still feeling weird after the whole affair. The season doesn't help, but he does feel closer to his own mortality than pretty much any point since he died for real the first time. Being around growing plants helps that. Mostly, though, it's because he doesn't want anyone to get, like, scurvy living on bushels of rice alone.

He doesn't want to overtax any of the plants, but some can be cajoled into fruiting. Right now, he's got his hand on a kumquat tree, and he's trying to convince it that it can speed up the growth process by a few weeks. Drosera is with him, 'helping:' she's found a dead leaf, and she's chasing it down the pathway between some plants. If anyone shows up -- either because they've heard of his near-death experience and want to check in on him, or just to hang out, or even because they're drawn by the way it looks like sunlight is coming from the greenhouse itself -- he'll be glad for the company.

Comments

[sagramore]

puppy friend??? friend??? food???

She arches her back into the scritches, her tail continuing to lash but this time in an interested way. She stretches out her wings -- almost all of her flight feathers are in, and the wings actually look quite good now -- and slinks out from her hiding spot, leaving behind a very chipped pot with a lot of talon scratches in it.

"Christ," Sagramore breathes. "That's a griffin, as promised."

[summerdude]

Drosera is bigger now, way too big to reasonably ride on anyone's shoulders. In the fashion of many burgeoning adolescents, though, it has not occurred to her that she is too big to ride on anyone's shoulders, and so when she stretches -- a little bit to show off; the man in the room sounds impressed and she is a beautiful baby -- Magnus automatically crouches so she can rest her front talons on his shoulder and then scramble up his back. He's strong; he doesn't overbalance. Magnus likes when she does this, because it means he's using his einherji abilities for something good.

"Sagramore, meet Drosera," he says, moving a hand to support her back as he carefully rises up again. "Sorry, I mean, Her Most Gracious Majesty and Royal Betaloned Beakiness, Glorious Princess Drosera Dinosaur Hungry Baby Kitty McBirdface Magnahad the Fluffy-Pawed of Shed Kingdom, First of her Name and Cutest in all the Worlds, Who Is a Good and Big Girl Now. Dro, baby, this is Sagramore. He's Laertes's husband -- do you remember Laertes? They're Szarka's dads."

[sagramore]

"Madam," sweeping into a dramatic bow. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Drosera snaps her hooked bill. dads??? no mama???

[summerdude]

"No mamas," Magnus confirms. "Just papas."

[sagramore]

sad!!!!!!

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "Silly baby," he says, stroking her beak. "The rabbits just have papas too, you know, and you didn't think they were sad. Hey, maybe if you're really nice and good, when you hang out with Szarka, you can tell her all about having mamas (plus an Alex) and she can tell you all about having papas. How's that, huh?"

[sagramore]

She squints at him doubtfully -- Sagramore is keeping respectfully quiet while all this unfolds, although he does look curious.

[summerdude]

Magnus takes a step or two forward so Dro can get a closer look at Sagramore. "What does Szarka eat?" he asks him.

[sagramore]

"Meat and bran bread in broth." He doesn't make direct eye contact with Dro -- he knows how a dog would feel about it, but not a griffin, and he knows many animals don't like it from a stranger. He does offer his hand to inspect. Drosera looks at him for a long, skeptical moment and then starts nibbling on his fingers.

[summerdude]

"See?" Magnus tells Drosera, stroking her neck. "His baby eats meat too, just like you. Not your meat though, of course. Different meat. Meat for dogs."

[sagramore]

"Cooked meat. That's probably the main difference." Her bill is very sharp, but he permits this nibbling; it's only about as bad as tiny puppy teeth.

[summerdude]

"Yeah, Dro's on the all-raw diet, aren't you, baby?" Magnus asks. "We're working on a way for her to say 'thank you' to all the hunters right now, since everything's so weird inside."

[sagramore]

"Oh, of course. Has Temeraire been feeding her?"

[summerdude]

Magnus nods. "Mostly Mothwing, though. Also Little John and Alex and Wei Wuxian, and probably even Angus even though every time he babysits he has an opinion about it." He strokes a finger along Dro's beak and laughs as she nips at him. "Dro loooooves Angus, though. Don't you, baby girl?"

[sagramore]

angusss!!!!!! she shrieks gleefully, turning her head to bite Magnus instead; Sagramore gratefully tucks his hands in his pockets. "I'm glad we're at least looking out for each other here."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, we have a good little community here," Magnus says, with feeling.

[sagramore]

"We have. It's something I've always wanted, I think."

[summerdude]

"I like it. It's nice that everyone's doing their part to, like, help us all thrive."

[sagramore]

"Exactly." He pauses. "I heard you're getting on better with Lancelot, to that point."

[summerdude]

Magnus snorts. "Yeah," he says. "We had it out. And then I guess when a guy saves your life, you should probably, like, not antagonize him or whatever."

[sagramore]

"Oh?" mildly.

[summerdude]

"Plus, he did promise me he was going to work on his--" Magnus pauses and squints at Sagramore. He's, like, pretty sure he gets along with Lancelot? But he doesn't know how close they are, really, and it's his policy not to spread someone's personal business to another person.

"...stuff," he concludes. "The cop energy or whatever."

[sagramore]

Sagramore laughs. "I see. Go back to the part where he saved your life?"

[summerdude]

"Oh, yeah, a, um." Magnus makes a face. It really is so embarrassing!! Also he'd kind of expected the details to be everywhere by now? But it's so random, who knows and who doesn't. "There was this whole thing with a weird hallway and a mystery sword. It wasn't great? But he showed up and pulled it out. Did a whole tourniquet thing."

[sagramore]

"Hmm," Sagramore says. He scratches absently behind one of Dro's wings. This seems a question with an obvious, inevitable answer, but: "Lan Wangji knows, of course?"